


Too Good To Be True

by Ailette



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Domestic, Getting Back Together, Imported, Kid Fic, M/M, Sho and Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-29
Updated: 2011-06-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 11:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6703405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailette/pseuds/Ailette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ohno comes back knocking on Nino's door, with his son. Somehow, things don't go as dramatically as he feared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Good To Be True

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: FINALLY, the fic I promised you, morninglights ! It's... ridiculously sappy, but I hope it's what you wanted? And I'll probably look into my WIP folder more often from now on. xD  
> Prompt: Just everyday situations in the Ohmiya household with children.  
> (Originally posted at http://ailette.livejournal.com/66822.html)

Ohno didn’t know what to do. There he stood, a backpack slung over his shoulder and another bag lying at his feet. It wasn’t the bags that weighed so heavily on him, however. He looked down at the carry-seat he was clutching tightly, where his son lay, peacefully sleeping, and he felt his heart crack. It wasn’t so bad, he thought.

He had maybe seen it coming. (They _both_ had.)

But it wasn’t fair to Naoki, far too young with his few months to even be aware of their situation as they stood before Nino’s apartment door. He didn’t know how long he’d already _been_ standing there, rooted to the spot and somehow unable to remember how to use doorbells.

He sighed, rubbing at his temple with his free hand. This was the only place he could go. And if that lady from the upper floor were to walk past him one more time, she would certainly call the police on him. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, looking down at Naoki one last time. Then, finally, he reached out and pressed the bell. It was the middle of the night, sometime around one o’clock, but he didn’t think for a second that Nino might already be asleep. He knew the other man’s schedule too well, knew for a fact that Nino had finished work early today and would only have to come in at noon the next day. He would be playing, not sleeping.

Even after everything that had happened, he had never been able to stop his eyes from following Nino’s every move.

The door in front of him swung open to reveal the disheveled looking young man (he never could stop thinking about Nino as ‘young’ even after his thirtieth birthday had come and passed). Nino simply stood there, silently taking the pair in front of him in; his hand never leaving the doorknob. Ohno was afraid that maybe, he would slam it shut when Nino’s forehead furrowed as he was looking at him in confusion.

“She told me to leave,” Ohno said and his voice sounded hoarse, like he’d been screaming for too long. He had been.

“And you just complied?”

The question would sound harsh, if it wasn’t for the way Nino was lowering his voice so Naoki wouldn’t wake up and already taking a step back to let them in.

“It’s her house.” Ohno tried to say it with nonchalance, but knew he’d failed when Nino’s eyes softened in sympathy before he bent down to pick up Ohno’s second bag.

It felt surreal when Nino led him into the bed room, helping him set up Naoki’s bed quickly and silently. It wasn’t until after they’d returned to the dimly lit living room, Nino pressing a can of beer into his hand that he accepted with gratitude, that another word was spoken.

“Is it-”

Ohno interrupted Nino before the question could be completed. He didn’t want Nino to ask him about this, about what happened, about _her_. Because for some reason, he kept picturing the younger man nodding in full comprehension, sadly saying ‘This wouldn’t have happened if…’. He knew that Nino never would, but he wasn’t sure anymore if it was himself he wanted to protect, or Nino. Nino, who had been hurt enough over this matter, he thought guiltily.

He had made a lot of wrong decisions.

“She had already prepared the divorce papers when I came home. Said she couldn’t do it after all. That she just didn’t… feel anything.” For him or for their son, Ohno didn’t say and Nino didn’t ask. “I’m sorry,” he added and looked down. “We just needed a place to stay for the night and my family’s on holiday and I don’t have a key anymore and Aiba-chan’s in Belgium and Sho-kun is still at work and-”

“And Naoki cries whenever he sees Jun,” Nino finished grimly. But when Ohno looked up, he was almost smiling, his eyes softly resting on Ohno’s hunched over form. “It’s alright, Oh-chan. You can stay here.”

Nino was far too kind with him, Ohno thought. It wasn’t fair on him, it wasn’t fair on anyone who had got dragged into this. Not Naoki, not him - not even her. But when Nino reached out to gently squeeze his hand and gently repeated, “You can stay here.” he started crying for all of them and out of pure gratefulness and love.

***

Nino woke to something that sounded like a hiccup. A part of him was instantly alert, his senses zeroing in on the baby phone on the nightstand and listening closely for any further sounds of distress. The other, much larger and more dominant part of him, reminded him very firmly that it _wasn’t his turn_ , dammit, he could continue sleeping until the sun came up at least.

Both parts got distracted when instead of a crackling crying noise, the next sound came from Ohno turning around next to him. He didn’t know when Ohno had come to bed the day before, seeing how he’d had one more day of work before their traditional week off at the beginning of the new year. It was the first they spent together. Nino smiled into the soft and warm material of his pillow. More rustling noises caught his drifting attention and a moment later, long fingers gently brushed a strand of hair behind his ear; coming back to stroke his cheek.

He wasn’t quite willing to completely wake up yet. Chances to sleep in had always been rare, but become even more so since Naoki had started deciding their waking and sleeping hours with his voice alone. Quite a powerful voice he had, too, Nino thought drowsily as a finger proceeded to run down the length of his nose and then up again.

“He’d be an amazing singer,” he mumbled, only dimly aware that his words were almost indistinguishable.

Ohno only chuckled, warm and heavy and entirely befitting for such a lazy morning. His fingers traveled up to Nino’s forehead, curiously brushing his eyebrows a few times before continuing on to the top of his head. Nino felt like purring when they started to pet his hair like he was a favorite pet rather than a human being. Lazily, he opened one eye to find Ohno looking straight at him; soft and intense with something akin to wonder.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” the older man whispered.

“You saw me the day before yesterday,” Nino reminded him sleepily. “And the day before that and before that…”

The hand in his hair drew back momentarily to flick at his ear. “But always at work. I never had the time to properly look at you.”

“You mean ‘stare longingly like a lovesick fool’,” Nino brought out around a yawn. He might have deserved the next flick.

“You know what I mean,” Ohno muttered sullenly.

“Mmmh,” Nino replied, but edged closer so he could curl into Ohno properly. He was becoming aware of too much distance between them and too much cold air around them as he awakened more and more.

Ohno seemed to notice as well, judging by the way he draped his arm over Nino’s waist to drag him that little bit closer before adjusting the covers around them; pulling them so far up that only their faces remained visible.

“It feels like I haven’t touched you in forever, either.”

As if to emphasize his words, the hand at Nino’s waist slipped under the hem of his pajama shirt; splaying out against the sleep warm skin it found there.

“Or kissed you.”

The words were breathed into his hair before Ohno kissed the top of Nino’s head, then his temples and the tip of his nose, his exposed cheek and jaw, his earlobe and then cheek again. It was only when an almost embarrassed giggle bubbled out of Nino’s mouth that lips met lips in a chaste touch. Their eyes met again and Ohno kissed him once more with a smile. There was a sparkle of mischief coming to life in the dark brown eyes as the older man leaned back and licked his lips.

“And I know it’s been days since we last-”

A loud scream interrupted him, startling them both and making Nino glare at the forgotten baby phone. Following the scream was one second of merciful silence before the speaker crackled to life again with a heart wrenching wailing sound. Ohno let his head drop into the depths of his pillow. Nino felt like he very much understood that sentiment.

“Nino…?” Ohno asked hopefully.

“No,” Nino said and turned around so he was no longer facing the puppy dog eyes that, really, shouldn’t be working on a 35 year-old anymore.

He could distinctively hear the heavy sigh even over the crying that had started up now when Ohno pushed himself up and out of bed to shuffle out of the room. He had to listen more closely for the padded feet on their way down the hall to what used to be his guest room and had, months ago, become Naoki’s. When those faded, he had to wait for the baby phone to pick up the soft sounds of Ohno lifting the little boy out of his bed.

Nino imagined the way Ohno was probably holding Naoki in his arms now, rocking him gently with soothing noises. He drifted back to sleep to the sound of Ohno’s voice singing a quiet lullaby and the thought that the day couldn’t have started any better.

***

“I thought you’d gone back to sleep.”

Nino turned at the sound of Ohno’s surprised voice and grinned.

“I did, but only for a few minutes. Whoever told you that rock songs were good for lulling babies back to sleep lied to you.”

Ohno looked very pointedly at his happily gurgling son in his arms. “I noticed.”

Nino motioned for him to sit and Ohno obliged, carefully sitting Naoki down in his baby stool. Nino still insisted that the thing was made either by evil geniuses or possibly Aiba himself (considering who the chair had come from, the latter was a rather justified suspicion), since he kept bumping into it practically every time he turned around in the small kitchen. This morning apparently was the notable exception – he didn’t even stub his toe when he bent down to feed Naoki.

Ohno was distracted by the bizarre little fight between his son and his boyfriend for a few minutes, never getting tired of the way Nino would try to make the spoonful of pulp look appetizing as he held it in front of Naoki’s mouth. It kept reminding him of people dangling carrots in front of horses, though Naoki was probably a whole lot more difficult than that. But at least for this morning, he seemed to be satisfied with his pulp and actually swallowed most of it instead of spitting it back out onto Nino’s clothes and then having a laughing fit (it was hard to remember that at this age, it couldn’t possibly be on purpose). He felt like giving it a try himself, sometimes, but Nino insisted on doing it; always claiming that Ohno was too incompetent for it.

“ _You_ ’ll have to feed yourself, you know,” Nino said distractedly over his shoulder.

Ohno frowned first at him and then the table, mildly surprised to see it completely set and a basket of buns in the middle of it. Still warm, too, he discovered when he reached for them. And the smell…!

“Doyuabanyblansorewee?”

Nino actually stopped the feeding to give him a very irritated and reproachful look. Guiltily, Ohno proceeded to chew on his mouthful of bun with strawberry-orange jam and swallowed it dutifully before attempting to speak again (“I swear when he’s old enough to actually start picking up his own spoon, I’ll teach you manners together with him.”).

“Do you have any plans for the week?”

With Nino’s back once again turned to him, all Ohno got was a shrug. “Not really.”

“We could go and visit your mother,” Ohno suggested.

“She’s busy trying to kick Kazue out after she moved back in with her new boyfriend,” Nino reminded.

“But my family’s on holiday in Okinawa…”

Nino frowned down at the small spoon in his hands. “So what? We don’t _have to_ visit anyone just because we’ve finally got some time off.”

“But it’s the beginning of a new year! You spend that together with family!” Ohno sounded somewhat scandalized. “…or at least at sea.”

“I’m sure we’ll see some form of ‘family’ whether we want to or not,” Nino grumbled. He loved Ohno. He also loved Ohno’s family. It was just their strange rituals and diehard insistence on them that made him roll his eyes when he was sure that none of them were looking.

He very resolutely did _not_ promise Ohno that he was allowed to go fishing if no family were to show up over the coming week.

***

Almost exactly eight hours after Nino had uttered the words, they were made true by the unannounced appearance of one Sakurai Sho at their doorstep. He felt only mildly annoyed when Sho more or less brushed passed him without proper greeting the second the door opened widely enough for him to spot Naoki in the middle of the living room. Sho and babies – it was a _thing_. So Nino only sighed and closed the door behind him, neatly lined up his visitor’s quickly toed off shoes into the intended cupboard and straightened out the hastily hung up coat before he followed suit.

“Look who’s here! Look who’s here! Look who’s-”

“We need a door viewer,” Nino said as he sank down on the spread-out baby blanket next to Ohno, a good foot away from Sho and his crazy faces.

Ohno hummed in agreement, curiously picking up Nino’s hand to curl and uncurl the short fingers at will. Nino’s eyebrows rose and Ohno shrugged, nodding in Sho’s direction by way of explanation. Sho, who was playing with Naoki’s tiny fists in the exact same way.

“Our son’s occupied so I need something else to play with.”

“Your son is not your equivalent of my DS,” Nino reminded him firmly.

“Look who’s got such a teeny tiny little hand,” Sho sing-songed.

“Technically, Sho doesn’t count as family,” Ohno said, apropos of nothing, his eyes hopeful. “And he would love to watch Naoki for a day if I went out, right?”

“ _No_ ,” Nino said and promptly had to bury his head in Ohno’s shoulder when Sho started making adorable squishy baby faces _at him_. “No!”

It was almost four when Ohno realized that their fridge was practically empty and his stomach began growling. Nino had made threats about there being no more home cooked meals if he didn’t fill up the empty shelves. So he went out with a quick kiss to Naoki’s chubby cheek and a longer one for Nino at the entrance way, loving the way Nino fussed over his scarf and pressed the shopping list into his gloved hand.

“Can I stay for dinner?” Sho asked brightly, still on cloud nine due to prolonged baby exposure.

“You can, if you order in for yourself and eat in the hallway,” Nino said sweetly.

“You’re so cute when you pretend to be mean,” Sho cooed and Nino didn’t feel bad for smacking him in the head with one of Ohno’s house slippers.

“How the hell does he manage to trash these things so quickly?” Nino muttered and experimentally stuck a finger through the dark blue fabric of the slippers. “I’ve been wearing mine for years!” He wiggled the finger in Naoki’s direction upon seeing the boy stare at it in fascination. A bright gurgled giggle was his reward. He smiled and nudged the baby’s nose. “You better be more careful with your clothes than your father once you grow up,” he warned.

His finger was deftly caught in a tiny fist. “No arguing, young man. Do you know how much raising a child will cost? Or raising Oh-chan? We don’t need you to make it even more expensive.”

He felt Sho’s arm settle comfortably around his shoulders, but was too distracted with his game of catch-the-finger with Naoki to look up.

“If Satoshi-kun ever dumps you, I’ll gladly take you in as my second wife,” Sho seriously informed him and deftly ducked the –admittedly poorly aimed- punch.

“If he ever dumps me again, you better help me get rid of the body.” Nino paused, thoughtful. “Or get me a very good lawyer.”

The hand on his shoulder tightened. “Nino…”

The younger man only shook his head. He didn’t need to be reminded of the past, not when everything was so perfect now – had been ever since Ohno had come back to him seven months ago.

“There’s nothing left in the world that could ever make him leave you again. You know that.”

“Not unless anymore pregnant one-nightstands from the past pop up, sure.”

Suddenly, Nino found himself drawn back into a firm hug against Sho’s chest. It was like the tension drained from his body and he simply let himself be held, only his hand still stretched out so it remained within easy reach for Naoki.

“I know,” he said quietly. “It was before us and I even told him to go to her after I heard about it. I told him to go to his child. I practically gave him permission to break up with me and marry her. I shouldn’t be mad. He came back. With Naoki. And I’m not. It just…”

Sho comfortably let his chin rest on Nino’s head, watching his friend play with the baby absently as he struggled for words. He knew what Nino meant, he’d been there when Ohno left Nino behind, broken and yet insisting that it was the right thing to do. His heart had broken for those two, because doing ‘the right thing’ had so obviously _not_ been the right choice.

“I still can’t believe it all worked out so perfectly.” Nino looked at Naoki forlornly. “It can’t be this easy.”

“That’s terribly cynical, even for you,” Sho said with amusement. This time, he didn’t have a way to escape when Nino’s bony elbow connected sharply with his ribs.

In the end, Nino kept his word and kicked Sho out the second Ohno returned with groceries. Sho decided that consoling his friends never turned out to be as rewarding as it should be.

***

Ohno nearly dropped the shopping bags at the loud sound of something crashing to the ground. He froze for a second, keys dangling from his fingers as he listened for any other sounds, like cursing or pained screaming. Cursing would mean that everything was alright, that Nino had probably just accidentally let something fall to the ground. But what reached his ears the very next second was screaming.

His forehead furrowed, hands working quickly to let himself inside the apartment. Without the thick wooden door between them, it was easy to identify the screaming voice as Naoki’s. He jumped when something else shattered on the floor and hastily put the bags down.

“Nino?”

There was no response, but then his voice might have been drowned out by all the other noise in their home. He strode over to Naoki’s playpen, picking his son up with a soft shush-ing noise. Large wet eyes were looking back up at him, the screaming having dissolved into tears and hiccups some time in the last half minute. He automatically adjusted his grip on Naoki and started to gently rock in place for awhile as he held his son close to his heart. It was a procedure that only worked when it wasn’t some ungodly time in the night and when he looked down again Naoki was already distractedly fingering the fish charm on his necklace; crocodile tears still running down his cheeks, forgotten now.

Ohno was distracted by the loud hissing sound coming from the kitchen and quickly made his way over. He stopped in his tracks the minute his head poked around the corner. The kitchen was an absolute mess. Glasses, plates and cutlery were strewn across the tiled floor, almost everything in pieces. As he followed the trail, his eyes caught on the baby stool: the bright green tablecloth had been caught in it, now both lying on the floor.

When he looked up, he could also spot the source of the hissing noises. The smell itself would have been enough of an indicator, but the window opposite him was wide open, making it hard to detect the smell of burnt meat and spilt milk for the first few moments. Only now did his eyes land on the hunched over form of his boyfriend, leaning heavily against the counter with his face hidden in his hands; his chest heaving erratically. There were stains of what Ohno suspected to be their intended dinner all over his shirt and pants, his hands spottily covered in some sort of black substance and the hair peeking out behind them a sticky, tousled mess.

“Nino.”

Nino’s whole body jerked upright at the sound of Ohno’s voice. His eyes were wide for the split second that they met Ohno’s before sliding to the side in something that looked far too much like shame.

“Sorry! It kind of – I’ll clean it up in a second.” The words were tumbling out of his mouth in a haste, with almost no finesse to them. He took a step to the side, stopping and abruptly changing direction to the far side of the room where brushes and brooms were stored. “You should probably order something. The flyers are somewhere in the hallway, just-”

Ohno felt his heart clench with every word. Barely mindful of all the shards on the ground he strode through the mess to stop Nino from moving any further. “Nino,” he said again and reached out with his free arm to pull Nino into an embrace. Naoki on the other side made an inquisitive noise and Ohno tugged him a bit closer as well, smiling down at his son as he pushed Nino’s head onto his shoulder. He kissed Nino sweetly on the corner of the mouth, his hand remaining firmly where it was as he began to stroke through the messy strands of soft hair. He could feel Nino’s whole body trembling against him and proceeded to start swaying in place.

It made him smile when he realized that it worked on both Nino and Naoki – a tiny hand grabbing the material of his shirt at almost the same time that Nino’s did. The two most important human beings on the planet, right there in his arms.

He waited until the trembling had completely subsided before he affectionately rubbed his cheek against Nino’s. “What happened?”

“Not dinner, in any case,” Nino muttered dryly into his shoulder and Ohno smiled against his will.

“Okay. No home-cooked dinner then. Also no neatly set table and freshly washed tablecloth and looking after our son at the same time,” he suppressed a sigh as he mentally added stitching up Naoki’s favorite teddy bear to the list as he saw the stuffed toy and sewing kit lying on the kitchen counter Nino had previously been leaning against. “Were you trying to be super-mom?”

He jumped when deft fingers cruelly pinched his chest.

“Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow – sorry – ow! Dad, dad, I meant super-ow-dad, okay?” He shifted his grip on Naoki and resumed stroking Nino’s hair. “Why?”

Long moments of silence seemed to follow, but not the angry or petulant kind. It was the kind of silence wherein Nino needed to string the right words together to make sure that he wouldn’t be misunderstood, so Ohno waited patiently.

“But I have to be, don’t I?” Nino turned to face Ohno, expression desperate. “I’m not even- when he grows older why would he…”

Frustrated with himself, he cast down his eyes. It was that kind of topic, then, Ohno realized. There were only a few things that Nino ever had trouble talking about and it always made the older man wonder what exactly had made Nino so strong and brisk on the one hand and so hesitant and dejected on the other. He could shout declarations of love at 70,000 people without hesitation, but when it came to believing in anyone loving him, he could never quite find courage.

Ohno tipped Nino’s face upwards with a finger to the chin, smiling down at him softly. “He’ll love you. Because you loved him from the first second and raised him and got up in the middle of the night. Not because you killed yourself over dinner,” he took a deep breath. They hadn’t talked about this before. He’d known that it was bothering the younger man, but had always relied on common sense to win over. Sometimes, words were more necessary than he realized. “Or because you’re blood related.”

Nino’s body tensed against him and he knew he’d hit the mark. “Let’s leave the clean-up for later. I’ve brought take-out and I’m starving. Good thing you didn’t tell me you were going to cook.”

He maneuvered the three of them into the living room, nudging Nino onto the couch and placing Naoki in his lap the next second. Naoki apparently decided that this was the perfect moment to start crying again and Ohno smiled fondly when Nino automatically corrected the way the boy was sitting so he was now pressed safely against his chest as Nino started humming.  
  
Ohno turned towards the hallway, where he’d dropped the bags earlier on and with a smug grin thrown over his shoulder, he said brightly,    


“His father would probably love you even more, though, if you’d let him go fishing more often.”


End file.
